The Rutgers School of Labor and Management has just introduced a free online program that guides business owners through the process of selling their businesses to their employees through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) or worker cooperative. The program, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, is run through the New Jersey/New York Center for Employee Ownership, which created the program in conjunction with our friends at the Democracy At Work Institute, itself one of the foremost authorities on worker cooperatives.

The program aims to get good introductory information on employee ownership, both ESOPs and worker cooperatives, into the hands of business owners of color in hopes of helping those owners preserve the wealth they created, while benefiting their employees and keeping those businesses locally operating, helping the communities in which they reside. The online program enables business owners to learn at their own pace through a series of easy-to-navigate modules, delivered by instructors of color with real-world experience in their subject area. The free online program features both ESOP and worker cooperative content, including:

ESOP

• Succession Planning for Business Owners of Color
• What is an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)?
• How to Finance an ESOP Transaction
• Increasing Your ESOP Value
• How to Tap into the Benefits of Employee Ownership

Worker Cooperative

• What is a Worker Cooperative?
• Worker Cooperatives and African American Cooperative Economics: Origin Stories
• Using the Cooperative Advantage to Grow
• Four Corner Posts of Democratic Management
• Governance in Worker Cooperatives
• Developing Worker Cooperative Structures: Legal Considerations
• Capital for Worker Cooperatives and Other Employee-Owned Businesses

The program represents a much-needed step forward in making sure employee ownership education reaches traditionally underserved communities, and the NCEO is proud to support it.

Learn more and sign up for the free course.